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| 🔄Last week: no. 1 | Record: 19-0. The Zags scored their seventh, and possibly last, Quad 1 victory on Monday night with an 82-71 victory over BYU. There is an interesting debate about Gonzaga against Baylor for the general status no. 1. Today I carefully placed Gonzaga on top. It is number 1 in four of the six team stats (and number 2 in the other two), holds a 7-0 Q1 record and wins over Kansas, West Virginia, Iowa and Virginia – all on neutral courts. |
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| 🔄Last week: no. 2 | Record: 17-0. The Bears announced Monday that three more games would be postponed, and it will be put on the shelf until at least February 20th. BUs are the number one in the NET and have a 6-0 record in Quad 1 matches. The selection committee has six criteria that are referred to on its team pages. Baylor is number 1 in four of them (NET, BPI, KenPom and Sagarin) and number 2 in the others (KPI, Strength of Record). The question has been shifted from ‘Can Baylor remain unbeaten?’ to “Will Baylor be able to play at his previous level if he returns?” |
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| ⤴️Last week: no. 7 | Record: 16-4. No one is yet going to put Ohio State at the top level with the other two, but know this: the Buckeyes’ eight Quad 1 wins (were nine until the NET refreshed overnight) surpass the rest of the sport. OSU is 8-3 in the first quarter and also has six wins, which is similar to Baylor and Gonzaga for most among non-big teams. The victory on Monday night in Maryland raised OSU from number 7 to number 6 in the NET. There are three obvious number 1 seeds at this stage, then you can start sorting through the rest. |
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| 🔄Last week: no. 4 | Record: 13-1. The Wolverines are scheduled to finally return to Wisconsin this weekend. Michigan is 4-1 in Quad 1 games. It’s little stock, but the Big Ten will get the number of five to ten Quad 1 matches for this team by the end of the month, provided there are no more stalls in the schedule for UM. All things considered, this is probably the last number 1 seed. |
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| ⤴️Last week: Nr. 9 | Record: 13-3. The Wahoos are number 5 here, but number 7 on the latest NET rankings. But they have a lot to prove thanks to a 2-2 Quad 1 record. This team’s best win is on Clemson. This is the best win in Notre Dame. There’s also the neutral court loss to San Francisco that we can not forget. Fortunately, UVA has played so well for much of the past month that it has continued to rise 9-1 since Christmas. |
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| 🔻Last week: no. 3 | Record: 12-2. The Wildcats have gained more consistent respect on the human rankings than the computer. It’s a 2-2 team in Quad 1 that has played 14 games overall and at this point really has no claim to 1-seed status. VU is number 11 in the NET, with its highest ranking in one of the six criteria as number 7 in Strength of Record (SOR). The win in Texas was worth a very long time, but a win at Creighton this Saturday would really improve Jay Wright’s team. |
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| ⤴️Last week: Nr. 15 | Record: 15-3. The Trojans entered the AP rankings this week, but I want to argue that this group is still not getting the attention it deserves. USC wins at a high level against BYU on a neutral track, in Arizona and at Stanford, in addition to a home win over UCLA. I’m not saying it’s a number 3 seed from today, but it’s clearly a number 4 in the worst case. A 3-1 point in Quad 1 with only a few top-end matches left on the schedule. It looks like the Pac-12’s best team. |
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| ⤴️Last week: no. 16 | Record: 13-3. Here is a team with real black-or-white metric difference. You see the good record. Yet Missouri is no. 35 in BPI and no. 32 in Zagarin … while she was THIRD in KPI and FIFTH in SOR. It’s wild. As of today, Mizzou is 25th in the NET and he has a 4-3 Quad 1 record, with no losses outside the quadrant. |
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| 🔻Last week: no. 5 | Record: 16-2. Unfortunately for the Coogs, the 112-46 elbow fall on Our Lady of the Lake this weekend does not count in this team’s summary. Houston is not getting any help from the American at all this season. The team’s three best wins include a nice victory on a neutral over Texas Tech and then a whip from SMU. It would make a profit to give this crew with two losses – which is number 5 in the NET – any chance at a number 2. |
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| 🔻Last week: no. 8 | Record: 14-4. Big difference between Hey Nineteen love and what almost every other ranking system of the Hokies thinks. Thirty-four in the NET, 35th in KenPom … but 15th in SOR! Two major wins to note, one against Villanova, a highlight victory in Bubbleville’s time. The other comes against Virginia (at Virginia Tech) on January 30th. There are no ugly losses here. Long-term projection, I think Virginia Tech’s ceiling is a number 3 seed and its floor is a number 7. |
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| 🔄Last week: No.11 | Record: 10-3. The Seminoles are preparing for their 14th home game of the season against Wake Forest on Saturday. FSU’s best win is in Louisville and at home against Florida at 12. There’s an odd loss at home against UCF, which is Quad 3, and the reason the Noles no. 24 in the NET. Only four opportunities (2-2) in the first quarter. It is a talented team that could make a turn to the north in the coming weeks if the schedule can stay in step. |
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| 🔻Last week: no. 10 | Record: 16-5. The only team that has played just one Quad 4 game on this rankings is Villanova. A lack of low-end competition could finally give Bama a boost and help secure a No. 2 series next month. The tide (NET = No. 9) is 5-3 in Q1, 7-1 in Q2 and 3-1 in Q3. What is interesting is that at this stage there is still relative disagreement in the predictive criteria, given how high this team is. Bama’s no. 6 according to KPI, but no. 11 for Sagarin and no. 13 for BPI. |
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| ⤴️Last week: N / R | Record: 13-5. For the first time in a while, welcome, Illini. The No. 4 team in the NET, Illinois has a 7-4 lead in Quad 1 games. Those seven Ws are more than any other team except the Ohio State. The Illini won four in a row and lost the top five by 18 games from any team in recent memory: Baylor at a neutral level; in Missouri; by Rutgers; teen Maryland; versus the state of Ohio. |
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| 🔻Last week: Nr. 13 | Record: 13-4. The volunteers’ victories in Missouri, at home against Colorado and at home against Kansas, are very much maintaining the team’s profile. UT has a 4-4 Quad 1 record, yet it sits conspicuously at no. 8 in the NET. Can’t catch Alabama in the SEC rankings, but it looks like it still has a healthy chance of a No. 3 seed today. |
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| 🔻Last week: no. 6 | Record: 12-5. The CV undoubtedly got a big hit as of late. Texas has been 2-4 in the last six, and its only wins in the series are a sweep of the humble Kansas States. UT in particular has a win against Kansas and West Virginia. It is 21st in the NET and currently scores a 4-5 point in Quad 1. Similar overall profile as Kansas at this point. |
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| ⤴️Last week: N / R | Record: 14-5. The Mountaineers jump in and kick out Texas Tech in the process. West Virginia is now 17th in the NET and 5-5 in Quad 1 games. No losses outside the upper quadrant, and only one match in the fourth quarter, which will lead to the strengthening of the WVU (and / or as a cushion) to prevent it from slipping one seed less than expected . Almost no bad teams on the board will matter if the committee summarizes the statistics next month. |
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| ⤴️Last week: N / R | Record: 17-3. The Ramblers are in the AP Top 25 this week and are currently projecting as a better team than the one that reached the Final Four. But their only Quad 1 game took place on December 15 in Wisconsin and they lost by 14. And in Quad 2, Loyola Chicago is 3-2. A couple of giant Q1 games against 18-1, Drake, await this weekend. This team is 12th (12th!) In the NET, which is incredible, but as low as 57th in KPI and 46th in SOR. |
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| ⤴️Last week: no. 19 | Record: 20-1. Here is a team whose resume looks like it was engraved with rice paper. The Bruins get love here because of a 20-1 record and a winning margin of 15.3 points. But SOR is the only measure of Belmont that gives it any hope for a staff member at this point. It is 43rd in the strength of record, yet 67th in the NET and completely down in 200 in KPI and 97th in Sagarin. The best win is at Murray State, which is playing well below expectations at 9-9 and 145th in KenPom this season. The only other loss that this team can lose and still maintain the hope of a great studio is in its title race. |
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| 🔻Last week: no. 18 | Record: 12-5. Considering the recent win over Kansas, Texas and Alabama, the Sooners will eventually end up putting OU in a good seed line. Lon Kruger’s team woke up on Wednesday in 19th place in the NET. I have shown a few teams above that have a big difference between the criteria; that’s not the case with Oklahoma. OU falls within four places in all six statistics. All his losses are Quad 1, where he holds a 4-5 record. It will come out at 5-5 this weekend with a win in West Virginia. |
